Some Spanish sunshine in La Coruña

Sometimes I end up with projects in places that you would battle to find a travel guide for, like Nigeria. But every now and then a project comes up where the site visit is one of the highlights. This week it was La Coruña in north-west Spain. The great thing about this time of year is that the sun only sets at 9pm so there is loads of time for sight seeing after all the work formalities have been dealt with. 

Some pics from my few days in the sun.

One of the funkier fountains I have seen.

The marina

Plaza de Maria Pita and the Palacio Municipal. 

Maria Pita was apparently quite the heroin as she helped lead the towns people in driving back the English Armada, lead by Sir Francis Drake, that attacked the city in 1589. 

Another view of the Palacio Municipal

Castelo de San Anton

A view out over the harbour from Jardin San Carlos

The correct way to pour your cider when in Northern Spain: From a height and without looking.
Most people just leave it to the barman though.

The beach

Torre de Hercules

The Tower of Hercules was built by the Romans in the 1st century and is the only lighthouse of Antiquity that is still in operation today. There have been some modifications made over the years, but the tower still retains a number of its original elements and is a World Heritage Site. 

View from the top of the tower

Some interesting rock art in La Coruña

The park outside the hotel where I was staying

And Friday night shopping (11pm) on Rua Real

Unfortunately the trip to La Coruña was quite a long one (13 hours there and 11 hours back). Partly due to having to make a stop over in Madrid, but the Fyra breaking down on the way to the airport also didn't help. Luckily though there are direct flights from June to September so any return trips should be much easier. 

News from the Netherlands: We are still enjoying some great weather and today had our first walk on the beach of the season. There are a few more public holidays coming up (Ascension day on Thursday 9th May and then Monday 20th May after Pentecost) and so most people here are in holiday mode. 

How many n's in Koninginnedag?

Well next year it won't matter because next year it becomes Koningsdag! And yes they are both spelt correctly.

The beloved Dutch Queen has abdicated, given up her title and passed the baton on to her son. The message everywhere is "Bedankt Beatrix, Welkom Willem-Alexander!" (Thank you Beatrix, Welcome Willem-Alexander).

Because of Konninginnedag we were able to enjoy a long weekend break. And we had friends visiting! Abi, Frank and Joshua spent the weekend with us and we managed to get out and do a few touristy things.

First stop: the local park to test out the slides and other great play things.

Spring has finally arrived and everything is starting to look a lot more cheerful

We made a trip to Keukenhof to see tulips and a range of other flowers

Frank, Josh and Abi

Then on Monday Justin and Frank headed through to Amsterdam for a tour of the city. Everywhere we went the city was getting ready for the big Queens Day celebrations. If you are not wearing orange on Queens Day then you are not really considered to be taking part. Needless to say that the shops all mark-up and make a killing selling anything orange. 

Some of the sights around Amsterdam...

Even Rembrandts' statue was decked out in orange...

Today (Queens Day) started with a tour of Rotterdam. We headed out to the market and introduced Abi and Frank to our favourite cheese seller. After stocking up on our favourite cheeses we headed down to the harbour. 

We had a bit of a break in the middle of the day while Josh caught 40 winks and then headed out again. This time to Kinderdijk. 

We have had a great weekend and an awesome time hanging out with Frank, Abi and Joshua. We hope you guys enjoy the rest of your time in Europe!!

Rotterdam: The river Rotte and a visit to the Port

This week Justin and one of his colleagues got to start the week with a visit to the Port of Rotterdam. The day was spent with the linesmen. These are the guys that are responsible for making sure that the vessels are all correctly tied up at berth. We had a great day and really appreciate the hard work these guys have to do on a daily basis. We were lucky to have some good weather, but these guys work whether it is rain, shine or snow. 

Some photos from the day...

The rest of the week was the usual mix of keeping busy and just trying to make it to the weekend. This weekend we had some great weather and so decided to get on our bikes and explore parts of Rotterdam that we hadn't seen yet. The Rotte river is the river after which Rotterdam is named. Rotterdam was founded in the 13th century when a dam was built across the river. We had heard about the cycle paths along the banks of the river and decided to go and explore...

The first windmill that we came across on the river Rotte

A very British looking telephone box in someones garden

A view along the river Rotte

Cycling!

One of the impressive houses, complete with boat house, on the river

One of the canals that we passed on the way to the river Rotte

Amersfoort and a bit of sunshine!

There has been a lot of excitement in the Netherlands this week. For the first time in many months the temperature was expected to reach 20 deg C. We decided to make the most of it and spend some time outdoors. 

When we first arrived in the Netherlands we were out exploring new cities almost every weekend. With the cold and wet winter that we have just had we haven't done much exploring for a while. This weekend we decided to explore Amersfoort.

The old city gate leading into the city center

Most of the old buildings in the city center have been turned into shops

A view down an alley with the Onze Lieve Vrouwetoren in the background

This tower is said to be the third largest church tower in the Netherlands. However the first thing that we noticed is that there is no church to go with the church tower. Apparently the church was destroyed in the 18th century by a gunpowder explosion. 

A door in the middle of a wall 

The main canal around the old city center

Time for hot chocolate and apple tart

Another view of the tower

Unfortunately Amersfoort doesn't offer much in the way of tourist attractions and also doesn't have the same charm that you find in many other Dutch towns. It is a bit of a 'only-visit-if-you-are-in-the-neighbourhood' kind of place. 

With today (Sunday) being the 'warm' day that everyone was looking forward to we decided to get outdoors and enjoy some fresh air. We jumped on our bikes and headed out. We started out towards Delft but after a few detours ended up in a farming area. 

Finally, for those that are wondering what Marph has been up to, he has acquired a chainmail suit. We are not sure what is intentions are, but will keep you posted.